NHS cuts – Stop playing with our lives
By Lynda McEwan
Closure of out of hours services at six major hospitals in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGCC) area has created anger and anxiety for residents who worry politicians and the health board are playing with their lives.
Services at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock Health Service, Easterhouse Health Service, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and Vale of Leven Hospital have all been temporarily suspended amidst a severe, national GP shortage.
The GP shortage is partly linked to a dispute over pay and pensions, leading to an understandable unwillingness amongst doctors to staff these vital out of hours emergency services.
NHSGCC say the strategy is the only option left to guarantee the continuation of services but this will have a significant, detrimental impact on the three remaining services at Stobhill, the New Victoria and the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley who will be inundated with patients in need of urgent care being redirected to them.
This lack of cover means patients travelling sometimes as much as a 30-mile round trip to be seen by a doctor. With the west coast of Scotland remaining one of the sickest regions in the country, and Scotland’s recent appalling title as drugs death capital of Europe, the worst affected will be the most vulnerable and impoverished who may be unable to make the journey.
£330 million worth of cuts to the health board since 2016 and a projected £1.8 billion shortfall in NHS funding in Scotland by 2024, implemented by the SNP-led government, is the main factor behind this crisis in the NHS. A critical lack of investment in GP recruitment alongside severe underfunding has resulted in many essential services being cut across the NHS.
In West Dunbartonshire, the Vale of Leven Hospital has witnessed the loss of its high dependency and coronary care units, Ward F, stroke rehabilitation and the Christie Ward (mental health service)
Also ward Six, the hospital’s surgical in-patient ward, the downgrading of the laboratory services with microbiology transferring to Paisley and the introduction of a point scoring system to increase the number of patients being diverted elsewhere.
These cuts were approved by Nicola Sturgeon despite her reassurances to the hospital and campaigners that she would abide by a 2008 NHSGCC document Vision for the Vale, which supposedly guaranteed a secure future for the Vale Hospital.
Johnathan McColl, the leader of the SNP-run council in the area, who also sits on the health board, has gone on record as describing the removal of the out of hours service as a sensible decision.
This has caused widespread outrage across the area as people express their fears of the risk this move will impose on their health. His approach to end this predicament, it would appear, is to hope that “GP’s come around”, but with no plans to increase NHS budgets that looks unlikely.
This week an emergency motion tabled by local Labour councillors and Tory councillor Sally Page, who have joined forces to demand the reinstatement of the out of hours services, was rejected by the SNP administration.
They claimed reversing the decision would damage relations with the health board, instead passing the blame to previous Tory governments. Dumbarton Labour MSP and Scottish Labour leader hopeful Jackie Baillie has launched a petition opposing the closures and has scheduled two meetings, in Helensburgh on March 27th and Dumbarton on March 30th.
However all three, Labour, the Conservatives and the SNP, have voted through budget cuts successively so should be held equally responsible for the demise of the health service. A new workers’ party should be formed to fight for renationalisation and socialist policies in the NHS which would cut across this political point scoring and opportunism.
With the numbers impacted by the current coronavirus outbreak increasing daily in Scotland the dire state of the NHS will be severely tested in the weeks and months ahead. With no guidelines forthcoming other than intensified hand washing and self-isolation if suspected infection is present, the ability of capitalism and its austerity agenda to adequately deal with this public threat to health will be exposed.
Socialist Party Scotland have consistently campaigned on the issue of NHS cuts and have been demanding the immediate reinstatement of all cut services in all hospitals across the West of Scotland including the out of hours service. We have had successful stalls in the Vale of Leven, Paisley and Glasgow.
We demand:
- For immediate and emergency public investment to fully meet the needs of our NHS by the Scottish and Westminster governments.
- Build a mass trade union and community campaign to fight NHS cuts.
- NHS trade unions should call a national demonstration. Campaigners, NHS workers, the trade unions and the communities should organise a lobby of the next health board meeting on 28th April in Glasgow.
- End expensive PFI/PPP contracts and nationalise the pharmaceutical companies under democratic workers’ control
